James Hinchcliffe usually holds a get-together after every Honda Indy. And for the second consecutive year, he doesn’t have to pretend to be happy. After several rough runs in Toronto, the local hero likes that luck is finally going his way.

“We had lots of luck before,” the Oakville, Ont., native said. “It was all bad. So it’s nice to have it turn our way.”

“We’ve definitely had some bad luck this season so to have it turn our way is great.”

Hinchcliffe had a difficult start. He was fifth early but was falling well behind the drivers he was chasing while holding back a chain of traffic.

“I was definitely struggling on the red (tires),” he said. “Once we got those black Firestones on, the car came to life.”

After the pit stop that ended up putting him in third place, the Schmidt Peterson Honda did perform better. He couldn’t close the gap on Josef Newgarden or Alexander Rossi but had no trouble building a lead on fourth-place Marco Andretti.

In the final segment, with Newgarden and Rossi facing lapped traffic, he came on slightly but still finished 4.7 seconds back.

“I was almost hoping the race was 10 laps longer,” he said. “I was overall happy with our performance and happy for the fans that came out in full force today.”

Hinchcliffe did have a tough weekend that got better as it went on.

“I don’t think we had the best race car the start of the weekend,” he said. “Our qualifying was more having a commitment on that one lap than having a good car.”

“We’re going to have to work on our car, make it more slicker.”

While these podium finishes are nice, a win in Toronto eventually would be very sweet to Hinchcliffe.

“The support for me in this city grows every single year,” he said. “It’s just incredible. It’s the most humbling thing.”

“The energy in the crowd was huge. Even on Friday we couldn’t believe how many people were here. Hopefully we can keep our momentum going and get a couple of steps higher on the podium.”

BAD LUCK

Helio Castroneves was running so well. Then the pit stops came and his failing to get there before Tony Kanaan’s accident cost him.

“It’s like that,” he said. “Sometimes you’re in the lead and get caught with the yellow.”

“When Roger (Penske) told me to come in, I was already in the middle of turn 10 so I couldn’t.”

Castroneves ran well for the first 24 laps in the lead but really had trouble moving up and finished eighth.

Pole-sitter Simon Pagenaud finished in fifth. Much like his Penske teammate Castroneves, he really didn’t threaten after getting caught with the yellow. He did give Castroneves a lot of props for the move he made right on the first straightaway to get the lead.

“I was determined to go really deep and get first position but the old man Helio did a hell of a move,” he said. “But we really fought hard to move up and it was a real shame we got caught up on the yellow.”

BAD BREAK

Will Power was the unluckiest member of the Penske foursome, running into the back of Scott Dixon in Turn 3 after Dixon himself broke to avoid traffic.

“He moved out very quickly and unfortunately we went into the wall,” Power said. “It surprised me when he moved out. I shouldn’t have taken any sort of risk when it’s the first lap. It’s not worth it.”

Tire switch gives Hinchcliffe new life

James Hinchcliffe usually holds a get-together after every Honda Indy. And for the second consecutive year, he doesn’t have to pretend to be happy. After several rough runs in Toronto, the local hero likes that luck is finally going his way.

“We had lots of luck before,” the Oakville, Ont., native said. “It was all bad. So it’s nice to have it turn our way.”

“We’ve definitely had some bad luck this season so to have it turn our way is great.”

Hinchcliffe had a difficult start. He was fifth early but was falling well behind the drivers he was chasing while holding back a chain of traffic.

“I was definitely struggling on the red (tires),” he said. “Once we got those black Firestones on, the car came to life.”